Posted
by
timothyon Monday July 15, 2013 @05:06AM
from the don't-mean-to-brag-but dept.

New submitter jarold writes to note that Samsung has launched two extra-large cellphones: a 6.3 inch LTE ready version, and a 5.8 inch version. "Branded as Galaxy Mega, one would struggle to fit [either in a] pocket or use it with just one hand. The good thing, it is only 8mm thin and weighs under 200 grams. More portable than a tablet, it comes with a durable polycarbonate body. Unlike most of Samsung's latest smartphones, it does not have a super AMOLED panel. Instead, it has an HD super clear LCD display, which is bright enough to please most users. It features split screen and multitasking between video and other apps."
For a phone that big, users might need to brush up on their side-talking skills.

The 'uniform' where I work is long-sleeved shirts for management types, short-sleeved shirts for all others, including polos. No one wears a jacket unless they are meeting the 'big guys', which is pretty rare.

But I would not be wearing a fanny pack anyways. I'm looking for a hand bag to keep a bigger phone, front-pocket wallet, and sunglasses in. And not look too jolly. Not hopeful, unless I make one out of duck tape.

Well, there's your problem; you are a man, but wear the clothing of a boy.

butlers wear suits all the time... others reserve them for the occasion.though if you're a man wearing tight 501's jeans you can still fit a 4.5" screen phone and a pack of smokes in the pocket or one 7" device.

who the heck works wearing a suit anyways? even the people i knew who oversee 1000+ workforces reserved them only for social happenings, sure, some of them were work related but the fuck would even they need a suit for when playing around in excel..

I'm 5'9" and I wear almost nothing but jeans and jean shorts most days. I don't wear skin-tight jeans, but neither am I wearing "fat guy" jeans... they fit "right" in my eyes: no struggle to button, but they're far from cargo pants territory.

My Nexus 7 TABLET fits in the BACK POCKET of my pants without struggling to get it in and out. It's actually comfortable there (aside from the weight, which is a bit much and tries to pull my pants down). Now, yes, that's only true if I'm standing up... sitting ain't happening... this "phone" (phablet I guess is the term they invented?) should fit just as well as it's smaller.

Now, me personally, I don't want a phone this big. I have an S4 and I think it's just about perfect... I considered the Note II and I could see possibly going to that size, but that's the upper limit for me I think. To me, this phone is just too big to be carrying around all the time. But to say it doesn't fit in "regular" pants I just don't think is accurate. You most definitely do not need a fanny pack or anything like that.

5'10, nexus 7 fits in my dress slacks too (but as mentioned in another post, I keep it in a sling-bag)

I too chose the 5-inch S4, because it's the upper limit of how far my thumb can reach across a screen when holding the device in 1 hand. If I want a bigger screen, I'd get more screen space, but I'd sacrifice one-hand usability. If I'm giving up one-hand usability, I had better get a good amount of screen space to make up for it, so a 6-7 inch screen makes more sense to me than the Note II's 5.5inch screen.

I carry a man-purse (shoulder-bag) whereever I go. Makes it easy to bring gum, phone, keys, tablet, headphones, pen, multi-tool, workpass, forms/coupons, and wallet wherever I go. I like having this stuff with me, and the man-purse is a practical way of doing it rather than just walking around running into situations where I wish I had been carrying ______ with me.

Keeps me from having lumpy pockets, allowing for a clear view of my glorious posterior. Buddies made some jokes at first, but it blew over pretty

I have a 7" Android Tablet that I used to use heavily. I had a Moto Droid 2 smartphone that was nice, but the bigger screen of the tablet was enough of a draw that I'd use the tablet a fair amount for personal browsing.

That all changed when I got my new phone, a Moto Razr Maxx HD. The screen is bigger and sharper than the Droid 2, just enough that the relative usability of the tablet almost disappears, and the fact that my phone already has all "my" stuff on it from earlier today is more of a draw.

I wouldn't go that far. It's more like the difference between a 24" and a 21" monitor. Both are still "big" compared to what the majority of people use (Which is probably about 19" these days, perhaps 17") but there's a shift towards them. Your point is still valid, however, once you go bigger it's hard to go back.

That being said, you don't cart that 23" screen around with you. I have a 24" monitor on my desktop, but I still go back to a 15" laptop because 17" is too big to carry around.

I actually agree with this, but I am an unfortunate oddity on this one. I have terrible eyesight so I can't drop down to far screen-size wise or I can't read anything because laptop screens are generally all 1080p these days (or at least, they are on the laptops worth actually paying good money for). I could just up the DPI but this breaks far too much stuff to be practical.

I used to have an old 11.6" Laptop and that was perfect but it's actually hard to find a small(ish) laptop that DOESN'T have say a 1080

I hear you brother. I had the nice jewel-like HP 2133 with the keyboard to die for and 1280x768 on an 8.9" display, but I got to where I would have to bend over it about 6" away to see anything at all. My Thinkpad X301 13" 1440x900 was a thing of beauty but also got too hard to see. I'm afraid the future is realistically just one with no notebook.

I did find out that with GNOME 2, and after finding out the secret with stupid Firefox and Thunderbird which do things their own way, I could get everything to sca

I don't move a 23" monitor everywhere I go. Portablity means something. It's why I have a 13" MBP instead of a 17" MBP. If a phone won't easily slip into the jacket pocket of my sport coat or suit, I don't care what it does. I am not watching hollywood blockbusters on my phone.. I want my phone to be easily portable. To me the Galaxy S4 is a larger phone than I want to hold. But my clients are more likely to call than email or text me.

wha? His analogy was exactly correct, even the ratios are almost exact. 15/23 vs 4/6.3. By math alone, he basically made your analogy comment incorrect.

I'm not suggesting a 6.1" screen - I think it's too big to hold, but I will say that the 4.7" HTC one (larger than my previous HTC rezound/SGS/droid/razr) is visually a lot better than the 4" and smaller preceding phones, as referenced. However, even 4.7 is hard enough to use with one hand, which is a staple of most mobile devices - 6.1" would make that a guarantee in that it would be impossible to do so.

Once you have a larger size phone, it's really, really hard to go back. The difference in UI real estate and functionality is substantial.

Your nonsequitur, however, is not accurate. Nobody is implying you're putting a 23" monitor in your pocket, dumbass.

wha? His analogy was exactly correct, even the ratios are almost exact. 15/23 vs 4/6.3. By math alone, he basically made your analogy comment incorrect.

GP wasn't criticizing the poster's math, but the fact that his analogy completely ignores the different use cases between desktop monitors and cell phones/portable electronics. A 15" monitor is a large step backward from 23", yes, but a 6 and a half inch phone is a step backward in portability.

The diagonal size of the screen is completely irrelevant to whether you can hold it conveniently. The width of the larger of the two phones is 88mm (3.46"). If that's too wide to hold, you must have the hands of the Gerber baby-food baby.

Personally, I think that if you can touch the entire surface of the screen with your thumb while holding the device in one hand then it's still useful as a phone. If not, then it's essentially a tablet.

I don't think you understand phone sizes. Too big to hold is referring to functionality not "can you put it in your hand". The question is, can you palm a basketball? if so, this phone is fine. If you can't? I'd be guaranteeing that this phone is probably too big for one hand thumb operation. So while I'm sure you can support a device of any size in your hand beyond what is reasonable, whether you can operate it 1 handed is another story altogether. Phone have been getting wider and wider, although a

If you are over 40, a large size may avoid the need to wear glasses to read ebooks on it. Or even text messages. (or use the command line:-) Being able to read the screen may be more important than holding it in one hand.

I know that for a while people thought 4" screens were overkill, too big for people's hands, etc. I'm using a 5" Galaxy now and, while it took some getting used to, it's manageable with one hand (and I don't have large hands).

However, 6.3" just seems like a deadzone. Too big to hold in a hand and use effectively, unless you're Shaq, but smaller than a 7 or 8" tablet like the Nexus 7 or iPad mini, which perform tablet duties pretty well.

Conventional wisdom on device size has been proved wrong time and again over the last few years, so who knows? Maybe what we're seeing is devices for every size. With rumored smart watches on the way, we may have 1-2" smart watches, followed up with 3.5-6" phones, and 7-11" tablets, after which the ultrabook/laptop market takes over. Maybe every device will excel at somethings while providing enough functionality for other basics (email, media) to keep people happy.

However, 6.3" just seems like a deadzone. Too big to hold in a hand and use effectively, unless you're Shaq, but smaller than a 7 or 8" tablet like the Nexus 7

Don't forget that the correlation between screen size & device size is not neccessarily linear. Samsung managed to increase the screen size of the S4 (over the S3) by 1/5 of an inch while (slightly) reducing the phyiscal dimensions of the phone.

The Nexus 7 has a massive bezel, these devices do not & will be smaller than the 0.7 inches you'd ex

Whether a phone will fit in one hand is up to its width. The 5 inch Galaxy S4 is 69,8mm wide, the 6,3 inch Galaxy Mega is 88mm. The iPad Mini has an aspect ratio of 4:3 instead of 16:9 so it's 134mm wide although it's only 0,7 inches larger in screen diagonal.

Back around the time the Nokia E90 [wikipedia.org] was launched, I predicted a good smartphone would eventually be around 20x9cm with a slide-out keyboard and a large touchscreen; mainly based on the fact that I wanted something that would fit in a normal inner jacke

Depends on your size. 6.3" is about the max size that will fit comfortably in my pockets. 7" will but it's a stretch (see what i did here ?), really, I tried, because I'd love it if I could carry around a 7" phone. Maybe when they do away with bezels...And I can handle my 6.1" Ascend Mate mostly one-handed, to call, scroll pages, even type with the "stuck to the side" mini keyboard.I got laughed at for my humongous HTC HD2 (4.3"), then for my Samsung Galaxy Note (5.1")... Now I'm getting more interested loo

Maybe it's time that you start wearing track pants. They stretch, so might be able to accommodate up to an 8" "phone" in comfort. Who knows, you might be the first to start up a new fashion trend and show the world that there's a third use for track pants other than: a) exercising or b) showing everyone that you've "given up" and just don't care what you wear anymore.

While I'm at it, here are a couple of other ideas that people can use to comfortably carry a 6-7" phone around with and look trendy doing it

"I know that for a while people thought 4" screens were overkill, too big for people's hands, etc. I'm using a 5" Galaxy now and, while it took some getting used to, it's manageable with one hand (and I don't have large hands)."

Is it comfortable, or just manageable? I've tried the Galaxy S4, and i certainly _could_ use it with one hand, but it doesn't seem like it would be comfortable. There's no way i can wrap my fingers all the way around the back and simultaneously reach the entire screen with my thumb

I just bought an Asus Fonepad to replace my ageing Galaxy Note (Which is still a nice phone but too small). The Fonepad is 7" (Nexus 7 sized), and is a completely functional phone, although I haven't had to take a call yet I can imagine you will look a complete idiot.

although I haven't had to take a call yet I can imagine you will look a complete idiot.

I called a friend who was testing some 7" tablet as a phone. I couldn't understand why he kept giggling until I met him and he told me he felt stupid talking into something that size in public. It's kinda funny how people worry less about how comfortable it is to use than what others will think.

Phones were huge in the 1960s and 70s. Even the biggest thing they make now is small by comparison to a Motorola brick. Anyhoo, these large tablets make nice desk phones and they work fine with a bluetooth headset.

Get a Sony smartwatch or something similar, and a earphone-style bluetooth headset such as jabra clipper. This is what I do with my 8 inch Galaxy Note. I take it out of the bag only when I need to reply to an IM or SMS

Happy Galaxy Note user here too (5.3"). I do get a lot of comments about the size, but no problems with usability.

I do like the stylus drawing ability (agreed, not everybody needs this), as well as better readability. So I will definitely give this a look come upgrade time.

That said, if they can improve the display to make it sunlight readable, that will be a big plus. Also, better battery life is always a boon (not too unhappy to have to plug in every night or second night, though, but it takes a bit of

At this size, doubling the thickness to add a slide-out hardware keyboard probably makes sense, it would be pretty easy to type on compared to a Blackberry. Could probably also increase battery life considerably with the extra space.

Of course I'm looking forward to the day when I can use my 15" laptop as a "clamshell" phone... I'm surprised how close we are to that being some sort of reality.

Still happy using my Sony Xperia Mini [sonymobile.com] precisely because it's so tiny (88mm by 52mm) I'd love to replace it with something newer/more powerful but it seems nobody is making anything even near this size anymore. I don't even want a 4" screen, let alone these monsters...

But seriously, a TV with built-in video conference features might be useful, as long as they don't go and invent their own standard for it. I have been playing with the thought of setting up sort of "virtual windows" between separate office spaces, to allow a different, ad-hoc mode of communication between people at different locations.

The poster doesn't appear to be aware of the Sony Xperia Ultra that's been doing the rounds. It appears to be competing more with the 7" tablet part of the market than the mobile, especially as shown paired with the Bluetooth headset.* http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_z_ultra-review-944.php [gsmarena.com]

Never buying another Sony phone after they abandoned software updates for their 2012 phones... Shipped with 2.3 when everybody else was updating to 4.1, and finally got the 4.0 update near Christmas. Later found out "Nope, we're done updating those phones, go buy a new one" less than a year after they were released.

Thanks but no thanks, Sony. I'm done with you and will not hesitate to tell others what to expect from you, either.

I have an S3 and have seen the S4. Instead of just making the thing bigger, then bigger, I think Samsung should focus on quality and usability. It's almost like they design it w/a computer but never do a physical mock-up to see how usable the units are.

Button placement is just bad: the power button is opposite the volume rocker, so when you (awkwardly) shut it off w/the side button, the tendency is to cancel out the button press by hitting the volume rocker. Dumb. The 4 words I utter most often when using my S3: "F&^%ing P.O.S."

Too thin. Way too thin. Very awkward to hold when talking on it. Double the thickness and use it for a better battery and use some better materials (aluminum).

Cheap, plastic-y look and feel. This is again, really bad. Just looks and feels cheap, especially compared to the newer iPhones and HTC One. You're charging us a small fortune for these things; how about spending more than 2 cents on the case?

very few people use their iphones without protection. iphones could just as well be plastic.. plastic isn't viewed as bad for long term use by consumers, for example you bought it still.

I just wish I could find a decent android in the shame candybar touch form factor as 5800 xpressmusic was in. a bit thicker and a smaller screen - and a toggle slider for screen on/off, which all androids seem to miss(and windows phones for that matter even from nokia).

Except people buy cases for their iPhones that are made out of the same material as the S3/S4. People have come to the misconception that plastic = weak. Then they wrap their expensive iPhones in plastic to stop them from breaking. Good plastics are great materials for products in high stress environments.

Am I the only one who thinks it's in fact you that's the problem? You didn't like the S3, saying it's too thin, has a bad battery, and poor button placement, then go on to slate the next iteration of that handset? Dude, take your experience and learn from it; Don't look at buying a Samsung Sx next time. There are hundreds of Android phones available. Hell, the Nexus 4 is half the price, just as capable, and not bound to a network contract.

We've been through this a few times. Once upon a time portable stereos were cool, they made them as small as possible. Then people realised the really tiny ones sounded like shit so they got bigger, and bigger until 'portable' needed quotes.

Being quite anti-mobile I'm quite keen on this new trend as quite a few people who use them run out of battery so often they end up giving up and getting over their mobile phone habit so you can engage them in conversation again. It's progress.

I am sorry, but why are we using terms like this here? Unless this is just an ad...Saying something has a plastic case probably doesn't sound as good as a "durable polycarbonate body"... Obvious and stupid.

Anyway, the only problem I see with a 6.3 inch smart phone is this:

The only problem with the S3 and it's 4.7 inch screen, or likely the S4 and it's 5 inch screen is the battery.No matter how you slice it, back lighting and running a screen that big chows down on battery life. One of the only gripes I have with my S3, is that if you actually use it, the battery life is pretty terrible as that screen sucks down all the battery energy in no time flat. Unless they have come up with some super low powered screen, or some transcending battery technology that somehow solves this issue (which I truly doubt they have), you are inherently building a flawed device from day 1. Enjoy your 6 inch cellphone that has a battery life of 2 hours.

At the beginning of my current Sprint contract I got a Galaxy SII. It's been a good phone, no complaints. But durring this time I also picked up my first tablet (Asus Transformer Infinity) and I now find I've backed way off on the smart functions and apps on my phone.

I think at this point I'd be happier with a smaller device that acted as a solid 4G LTE hotspot to my tablet (and a new carrier because Sprint lied through their teeth about 4G deployment in my area)

Instead of trying to decide on "one" device for a phone and debating whether the tablet-like screen size is more valuable than phone-sized portability and ergonomics, the debate should be about why I can't get my "cell" phone number to work on more than one device.

I can (sort of) see why cellular networks may not "work" with two or more devices with the same number, but with VoIP this really ought not be a limitation for secondary and tertiary devices.

If AT&T could make my phone work on whatever device I had (iPhone, iPad(s), even PC) then it wouldn't matter what size device I had. If I wanted easy portability and good ergonomics, I'd take my iPhone. If I wanted a bigger screen but mostly good portability, I'd take my iPad mini and possibly a bluetooth headset or headphones for taking calls. And so on.

Basically, screen size doesn't have to be a permanent choice, it can be a "What works best today?" choice.

I don't see where this hurts anybody -- I certainly wouldn't buy an iPad over an iPhone and an iPad because I could make calls on my iPad, and it's not like cell phone companies aren't looking for Yet Another Thing to charge you for.

not a problem man i seen huge battery's made for most phones that you can buy with a replacement backing.my buddy has one and he said he said it goes for days without charge. you will need a rooted phone so reset some power settings so it takes full advantage of the large battery.